Saturday, July 12, 2008

Are you going on the road this summer? Maybe with gas prices high enough to draw blood you're planning on staying closer to home but whatever you're doing, today's giveaway will help with your travel plans.

Navigon, a company specializing in GPS systems, recently released their 2100 max unit and asked if I'd take a look at it and see what kind of fun I could come up with to share.

Unfortunately there was a snag. A big snag called "Alaska" because while the Navigon 2100 max comes preloaded with maps of 48 of the United States, it doesn't have maps of Hawaii or Alaska, only the "contiguous" states. If you haven't noticed this word before it means "connected to each other." It's not accurate to say "continental" United States because even though Alaska and Hawaii may not be touching the rest of you guys we are, quite thoroughly, part of the continent. Please forgive the vocab lesson but I find this little point to be kind of funny when you see a site that says "We only provide shipping to the continental United States."

At any rate, no maps, no first hand review. Which is too bad because I liked the screen and how easy it was to stick up on your car and was able to view the sample maps and see what this little baby is capable of and it looks very handy--we really could have used this when we were driving all over Florida last March getting lost and paying out a fortune in tolls.

You can of course get basic info like your altitude, latitude, longitude, direction and speed and you have maps to take you to the nearest restaurant, gas station or hospital. The Navigon 2100 max can talk to you, giving you directions and once you're there you can hit the "take me home" button to save locations for future reference and the return route.

Anyway, it's too bad we northern folks are out of the picture on this one, I've written to the folks at Navigon and asked if there is a way around this limitation and will update as I gain more information. In the meantime here is a post at GPS Tracklog that does a review which you might find more helpful.

My online research indicates that another model, the Navigon 2120 max fills in where this one lacks and contains maps of the missing states as well as the Canadian provinces (much better, eh?) If I'd known the full picture when they contacted me I would have requested this model instead.

But . . . good news for you because I'm giving away this Navigon 2100 max that I can't use to one of you nice readers. If you're planning on hitting the road this would be a great thing to use for your trip--avoid the toll roads, plot the straightest route, find the nearest pit stop. You'll love it.

Here's how to win:

Before 12 am Monday go to the giveaway entry form on this page and enter your name and email. I will pick one of the names at random, contact the winner via their email and publish the winner's first name and home town in next Tuesday's post. See the bottom of the entry form for more details.

I'm sorry but this giveaway is open only to U.S. readers.

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Thinking about entering this month's Write-Away Contest? Prize is a Zune MP3 player and the theme is "Wonder Woman" but the deadline is this week so you'll have to hurry!

wow for once i won't have to rely on licking my finger and sticking it in the air to decide which way to go. seriously i'm thankful for 7-11's otherwise I'd always be lost. thanks for tellig me about this product i'm going to take a good look at it myself. first i have to find my car keys

OMG, you don't know how badly I need this. An example of one of my less severe attacks of directional impairment: I once drove almost 2 hours to Lansing (which is only a 90-minute trip), when I meant to go to Plymouth (which is a 40-minute trip). I was very late for a seminar, where everyone laughed at me.

My Uncle laughs at me because I travel according to where the sun is in the sky (doesn't help on cloudy days).

My Husband can't stand my directions of "turn right at the mailbox, go six blocks, when you get to the park go past it to the next street, turn right, and go to the house with the big hostas in the front -- it should be the fourth driveway from the corner on your left."

This might help me greatly, though I keep thinking of an instance around here last year when someone's GPS told them to turn right onto the railroad tracks. They were fortunate to get out of their car on time.

On days when my regular route to or from work is blocked I'll venture on the side roads. Every time I get off the highway to try to get around the traffic problem with the local roads I've gotten completely lost on the way! I would love to have a GPS system to help get back on the right track. Thanks for a great contest!

WOW! This would be so nice to win! We really wanted to get one for vacation, but weren't able to. It would be a great surprise to my parents to tell them I won this! :)Thanks for such a super contest! :)Miss Amandahttp://superangelsblog.com

I can understand the whole "Continental US thing" cause I grew up in Hawaii. Which is one reason I need this is cause I have a really bad sense of direction, when you grow on a small island and you always have the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other, it's harder to get lost! I've also live along the Gulf Coast and drove along the water everday, the Pacific Coast and other little islands, so I get really lost by driving inland! And with gas prizes as they are, I can't really afford to get lost and take the "scenic tour" like I used to!

I know how you feel! Being in Canada, I too often get "locked" out of cool products. And even though I am in Canada, most of our contests are only for the US. LOL

As for the continental/contiguous thing - somebody got upset with me on our site for saying continental. I know it is supposed to be contiguous, but I often just say continental. When the women emailed me, I almost pasted the wikipedia definition of continental that said that it is commenly understood to refer to the contiguous states, but instead I refrained, apologized and now try to remember to say contiguous instead of contintental. LOL

My husband would love this prize or would love me for winning it. I cannot read a map for the life of me and anytime we go somewhere we need directions he always hands me the map. Needless to say I dread any kind of road map as I know before we are there we are going to be here, there and everywhere in every direction.

We once had one of these is a rental car. The restaurant we were heading to was on the opposite side of the street so we made a Uturn - which is legal in AK. Well in AZ, it is not and the woman's voice from the navigator announced - You have just made an illegal maneuver. I thought a ticket might scroll out of the dashboard.